Monkey Island 1 - Secret of Monkey Island

Review

The Island of Melee: where Legends are born, where Pirates are born, where Legendary Pirates find exuberant treasures to seek out, and bask in unthinkable fame and glory... At least that's what Guybrush Threepwood was told, and with the arrival of our antihero on Melee Island, his dreams and ambitions of becoming a Mighty Pirate is all he can think about. He finds out quickly after he lands on the Island that the place to be, if he still wished to become a pirate, would be the SCUMM Bar: where pirates hang out while not on heroic adventures of plunder and... adventure. In fact, soon after his arrival to the bar, he learns that all the Pirates are land ridden for fear of an evil ghost pirate with the name of LeChuck (Muahaha and so forth)! But does the news of an evil pirate stop our hero Guybrush from his dreams of becoming a Pirate? Of course not (you can't give Guybrush that much credit)! In fact Guybrush takes the Pirate Initiation test known as The Three Trials, and in his quest to master the arts of treasure hunting, thievery, and sword fighting, he learns that the evil pirate LeChuck has kidnapped the governor Elaine Marley (who just so happens to be beautiful!), and plans to (gasp) MARRY HER! What is Guybrush to do, but to find the legendary Monkey Island, and with his vast knowledge of skill and bravery, be the hero of his own game.

The first of the nostalgic Monkey Island Series, this game introduced all the main characters that would live on in the rest of the series, as well as many side characters that would pop in here and there. Made in 1990, it in fact had above average graphics for its time and became an instant hit with fans and pirates alike. The Soundtrack is the type that any company would kill for (or at least buy out). You know... the type of song that sticks in your head hours after you stopped playing. The game was made with a game engine called SCUMM (Script Creation Utility for Maniac Mansion). It had the same type of user interface as many other LucasArts adventures of the time, picking verbs and objects in your inventory at the bottom of the screen and then using them on objects in the graphical part of the game.

The gameplay, along with the witty remarks, ended up being hugely successful for LucasArts, and spawned a plethora of sequels to this classic. This game has been touted by many as being one of the best adventure games ever created, and the amount of fan support shows just how popular this game still is to this day. I would tell you to go purchase a copy of this game if you haven't already, and luckily it was just re-released with a new style of graphics as well as a full voice pack included. Where to find such an item? Over on the LucasArts' website of course. Pick up a copy before they are gone again, over on The Secret of Monkey Island Special Edition page.